It is frequently desirable to serve food and beverages while participating in outdoor activities such as camping, picnicking, and boating in order to both provide sustenance and enhance the enjoyment of those participating in the activity. As a result, compact, portable containers capable of transporting food, beverages, and their associated implements (e.g., glasses, plates, and utensils) are becoming increasingly popular.
While there are several portable container designs capable of transporting food and beverages, few of these designs make accommodations for conveniently serving the food and beverages once an outdoor location is reached. One means of addressing this problem is to fit the portable container with one or more folding table leaves, thereby allowing the container to serve the dual purpose of container and serving table. Designs relevant to implementing such folding table leaves may be found in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,551,558 to Bureau and U.S. Pat. No. 6,328,179 to Conrado et al., as well as U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0065665 to Swartfager et al., none of which are admitted as prior art by their mention in this Background Section. Nevertheless, many such container and table combinations are poorly suited for use in the rough environmental conditions that may be associated with some outdoor activities. While picnicking or camping, for example, it may be necessary to serve food and beverages while located on uneven and unstable terrain such as a beach or hillside. While boating, it may be necessary to serve the contents of the container while the boat is pitching and rocking, sometimes quite vigorously.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for designs for portable container and table combinations that are well suited for transporting and serving food and beverages during the rigors of outdoor activities.